Public Library, 46 Old Park Road, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT15 6FR

Public Library

This detached gable-fronted library on Old Park Road in Belfast is a redbrick and sandstone building built around 1906 as a Carnegie Library. It was designed by the architects Watt & Tulloch, with sandstone carving by J.E. Winter. The building is no longer in use as a library.

The structure is irregular in plan, facing east, with an advanced principal gabled block and a stepped-back gabled entrance bay. Single-storey wings extend to both side elevations with a pair of returns. The pitched roofs are covered in terracotta tiles with plain terracotta ridge tiles. The roofs sit behind gables and dormers with splayed sandstone coping, sandstone finials to the front gables, and cast-iron box hoppers and square-profile downpipes breaking through parapets to all lead-lined valleys.

The redbrick walling is laid in Flemish bond with splayed sandstone trim to the projecting redbrick plinth course. Window openings are square-headed with flush sandstone lintels and sandstone frames with flush splayed sills.

The front elevation is the most decorative. It comprises a principal single-bay two-storey gable abutted by a large single-storey three-sided canted bay window and a smaller recessed gabled two-storey entrance bay to the right. The first floor has a continuous flush sandstone lintel course spanning the entire elevation with a cavetto string course filled with floral carvings and gargoyles projecting from the outer corners. The principal window is a five-light transomed and mullioned stone frame surmounted by a sandstone panel with bowtel surround and cornice, framing raised lettering reading "Belfast Public Library". The sandstone parapet wall to the bay window carries raised lettering stating "Carnegie Branch / Oldpark Road" with a matching string course.

The entrance bay features a single four-light window to the first floor and a Tudor-headed door opening with an elaborate carved sandstone surround. The deeply set sandstone ashlar door surround has compound arch mouldings and compound colonettes on chamfered plinths. The tripartite door opening has blind trefoil-headed side panels, steel-covered doors, and a multi-pane overlight. The door opens onto a bowed stone platform with two steps. Above is a decoratively carved sandstone overpanel with a raised central panel containing the Belfast coat of arms and the Latin inscription "Pro Tanto Quid Retribuujamus". A cavetto hood moulding filled with floral carvings frames the entire composition, terminating in label stops at impost level. Slender sidelights flank the doorcase, formed in flush splayed sandstone with hood moulding. Replacement steel gates and a handrail have been added.

The south side elevation is abutted by a single-storey wing, seven windows wide, with a gabled central two-storey single-bay projection having a pyramidal roof and slate-hung octagonal plinth. Three wall-head dormers form the set-back first floor, with triple-light transomed and mullioned stone windows throughout. The first floor retains original steel windows. The twin gabled rear elevation is abutted by a single-storey wing to the south and a two-storey wing to the north, detailed similarly to the main ranges. The north side elevation is abutted by a two-storey gabled stairhall projection and a single-storey toilet block to the re-entrant angle.

Windows have been partially replaced: UPVC windows are present to the ground floor, while the first floor retains original steel casement windows.

The building is located on the west side of Old Park Road on an elevated site. Overgrown yards to the rear and north elevations are enclosed by tall redbrick walls.